Celebrating our 10+1 in Hawaii ~ Part 2

Saturday evening, we flew over to the island of Kauai, where we spent the remainder of our vacation.  We stayed at the Outrigger Waipouli Resort in Kapaa.  It was a huge resort but I think a majority of the suites are privately owned.  Our suite was gorgeous!!!  Once we got all settled in there, we found a little Mexican place to eat a late dinner.  We picked up some groceries from Safeway, which was right across the street.

Sunday morning, we had no real plans so we made breakfast, lounged around in the room then made our way out to the pool for a swim and laying out while reading.  A little while later, we packed up our beach gear and decided to explore the island a bit.  We headed north to Princeville to check out the famous lighthouse, but it was closed for renovations so this is as close as we got.  Still a beautiful view!!  We then visited the magnificent St. Regis resort to get a glimpse of more stunning views of the North Shore.

Next, we drove all the way to the South side of the island to snorkel at Poipu Beach.  This was a pretty popular place to be but since we were there in the late afternoon, it wasn't too crowded.  We stayed out for a looooong time and saw an abundance of fish and even saw our first sea turtle (no picture, underwater camera battery was dead).  I absolutely LOVED snorkeling!!  That night, the Barneys got in so we met with them to plan the rest of our week.

Super cool tunnel of trees!

Monday morning, Jennie & Weston came over for breakfast then we loaded up the car for the rest of our day's adventures.  We went back to Poipu Beach to snorkel again.  While we were there, these two endangered Hawaiian monk seals made their way up on to the beach.  We also saw TWO sea turtles this time!

We got lunch at a burger shack then we had our scheduled helicopter tour.  We opted for a doors off ride, which was the best splurge!  The views from the helicopter were amazing and no doors made for great photo taking.  My outfit choice was a little wonky- a knit skirt, which is easy to throw on over a swimming suit, but not so great when the wind is whipping around the cabin of the chopper.  Good thing it was only Matt & I back there!  Then we were required to wear footwear that was secure (aka no flip-flops) so I put on my running shoes.  Not a pretty picture- oops!

Jurassic Falls~ look at the pretty rainbow I caught!

Waimea Canyon - the "Grand Canyon" of Hawaii

The gorgeous Napali coast

A sea cave

This is the inside of a crater where the water seeps through the walls!

See?  Squooshed back there!

The Barneys

We stopped by Ono Ono shave ice for a little treat

That evening, we walked down to Kauai Pasta with the Barneys for dinner.

Tuesday, we did a bit of shopping in the morning to pass time before our guided kayak tour up the Wailua River with the Barneys.  That was such a fun little excursion!  It took a good amount of teamwork to keep our boat moving straight.  We hiked in to [not-so] Secret Falls, where we stopped for lunch and a swim out to the waterfall.  It was BEYOND freezing in the water, but I didn't want to leave Hawaii with any regrets so I did it.

After we got back, we cleaned up and went to dinner at Tiki Tacos (the most delectable, fresh, homemade corn tortillas!)  then to Lapperts Ice Cream for dessert.  I had the Coconut Caramel Macadamia Nut and I STILL can't stop thinking about it!!!  And I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of that deliciousness!!

Wednesday morning, we stopped for breakfast at Kountry Kitchen in Kapaa.  I ordered the sweet bread French toast with coconut syrup and O.M.GOSH, I about died it was so good!!!

We drove up to Tunnels beach for a long morning of snorkeling.  Upon arriving at the beach, there were a couple spear fishermen that warned they had seen a huge galapagos shark just past the reef.  Uhhhhhhh, eek??!  Matt was pretty protective and we still went out to snorkel, albeit with some apprehension.  He stayed on the outside and we held hands for most of the swim.  That I loved.

This cute thing flopped it's way up onto the beach then napped in the sun for forever!

Matt and Weston decided that they wanted to go looking for the shark.  We sent them off while we laid on the beach.  After a long awhile, they returned, but no shark sighting.  We were glad to have our husbands back on land, safely, without missing any limbs.

We saw this little guy, hiding in the sand as we were leaving the beach!

Weston had heard about this place called Queens Bath, where you hike in a little ways and there is a natural pool where the ocean water flows into.  Supposedly, people have drowned here but unless you're being completely brainless and stand on the outer edge, we felt it was pretty safe.  I left my board shorts in the car (just had my swim cover on) and I wasn't exactly "decent" without shorts.  I really wanted to jump with Matt so I made the Barneys promise not to look (LOL!) and we did it!

Hiking in, so lush and green!

These are called walking palm trees.  Their roots grow above ground!

The WARNING!!

There were a couple whales out there, slapping their tails!

JUMP!!

There were tons of sea turtles just chillin' in this little cove (above)

We stopped by a little roadside stand called the Coconut Experience to try drinking straight from a coconut.  Coconut water is supposedly really good for you, blah blah blah, but we were not impressed.  It's the experience, right??

We grabbed a quick dinner, did some souvenir shopping, then went back for more shave ice from Ono Ono's.  I could eat this stuff every day!!!

We got back to the resort and walked down to the beach to take some pictures.

We spent all day Thursday traveling home.  We were so exhausted and ready to get back to our kiddos.  I'm so glad that we took this opportunity to go to Hawaii.  We'll definitely be back!  I'd love to bring the kids someday, when they're older.  It really made us excited to be able to take trips to other destinations in the future!

A couple more things-

*I couldn't get enough coconut and pineapple foods!!

*I loved how the locals say "Mahalo," which means thank you in Hawaiian.  It's such a fun word to say!